The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-12-15
TAUNTON. VIRGINIA. DECEMBER Is, 1887.
STANTON, VA.

V ALLIE I Y / RGIN AN
srAgNToN. VA.
! III 0RsOAY. December 15 1887.
DEFERRED MATTER.
But for Malone and his movement is it
at all certain our good friend of the VAL
LEY VIRGINIAN would have lived to win
a Seat in Congress bristol Neecs
And but for Hon. J. F. Lewis and Seria
tor Riddle erger and others who co-oper-
ated with them, is it likely chat Gen Ma
hone would ever have had the power to
have snubbed the Senator and ex Senator,
and treat the Republican party of Virginia
as his personal property? Nor is 1t prob
able that other gentlemen who hold prom
inent positions would have reached them,
but for the assistance rendered by the
VIRGINIAN. AS to the position of Con-
gresham from this district, it is some
thing that the editors of the VIRGINIAN
never thought Of in their work in behalf
of Gen. Mahone's ''moYement.'' 1t is en-
tirely possible, were the accounts balanced
up, that Gen. Malone would owe quite as
much as is due him. Certainly the VIR-
GINIAN is indebted to him for nothing
By the unanimous, voice Of Republican
Convention the junior editor was selected
! to make a contest against 5000 majority
| and one of the best known and most pop
ular Democrats. in the State. That ma
! jorlty Was reduced to LOO. He again was
unanimously nominated to make the fight
in 1886 and won by | ZOO majority, without
| the assistance of Gen. Malone either by
word or deed. SO far as we know. In both
| instances it was considered a forlorn hope,
when the canvass opened. In both cases
the nomination was the free-will Offering
of the party, without solicitation or engi-
neering by him. He was ready and will
! ing to work in whatever position placed,
and would have labored as earnestly and
actively for another as for himself. He
simply obeyed the call Of his party, when
| he accepted the nomination. And when
the Republicans of the 10th district mani
fest disposition for a change the present
member will give them no trouble. He
could not be induced to enter into SQUAD
BILE for endorsement or appeal to any other
than legitimate influences. should he be
desirons for a denomination. Ii the Re-
publicans of the district should conclude
that another would be more available, they
will have free field to select from and no
kicking from this source, when the choice
| is declared.
| The VIRGINIAN is a Republican paper.
| Its editors believe in the principles OF the
Republican party, and claim to have done
as much for the party and its principles as
Gen. Malone, and have been as influential
in making successful the movement, " as
any other agency known in the political
contests of the State. The weakness, too
frequently manifested, of considering Gen.
| Malone the party, is what has caused the
dissensons that now exist, and will con-
tinue to exist until the fact is recognized
that the party 1s more important than any
one man or a dozen men, and that it can
only succeed when the people are acknowl-
edged to be supreme.
AS we have often before said, we have no
personal grievance against Gen. Malone.
We desire to see the Republican party
united and its full strength marshalled. We
do not believe this can be done under the
present management. and for that reason
we are opposed to it. We think we have
the right to say this. We think, too, the
facts will bear us out in saying that what
ever Of merit there was in the move
ment'' and whatever Of sagacity there was
shown in engineering it, that should not
blind US to subsequent faults and the
abuse and misuse Of the power that the
success of the movement assured. Ths
Republicans must address themselves to
present conditions and surroundings, if
they want to succeed. They cannot al
ford to arrange their plans and discipline
| their forces from conditions which existed
years ago. They must deal with the pres
| ent, and consider the party and its princl
pies more important than any one man S
pretensions and claims. II the party be-
longs to one man or if any one man is es
sential to party success, then the sooner
the people know it the better. We Ger
tainly are not prepared to admit that such
is the case, nor to concede that the Repub
lican party is indebted to Gen. Malone
for its existence. He has been greatly hon
ored by the party for whatever services he
may have rendered, and had he appre
| n; = OF ati
and respected the agencies that gave it,
there would now be less of dissatisfac
tion and dissension than prevail. He, as
sumes, just what he has taught a few 9th
ers to assume, that he is the party and
has used the power delegated to him as a
representative of the whole party, not to
crystalize and solidify its forces and
broaden its claims upon the confidence of
the people but to subserve his own persona
ambition and crafty the aspirations of
those who were ready to do his bidding
He could tolerate no manly utterances not
in accord with his dogmatic orders. nor al
low that freedom Of expression and lib
erty Of speech, which self-respeetlng Qlen
cherish, unless it were an echo of his pre-
conceived ideas To doubt the perfection
of his methods or the wisdom of his plans.
was contorted into an attack upon him
and the evidence Of disloyalty to the PAL
ty. Under such influences defeat after
defeat has ensued. The courageous devo-
ton of the rank and file has been rewarded
with disasters. The question now is,must
they continue to submit to the same arbi-
trary methods; the same selfish rule and
the same disheartening results: or will
they assert their manhood and demand
that change be made that will assure
mehope of more propitious fruits We
believe that Gen. Malone is 20 900 weaker
than the Republican party in Virginia, and
that this would be verified were a fair OPP
portunity given to make the test. There
are many others who partake of this opin-
ion, whose views are entitled to respect -
Certainly Gen. Malone knows that inAu-